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Russian antimonopoly watchdog postpones VimpelCom national roaming case

The FAS has not yet fixed the date of the new meeting
Russian Federal Antimonopoly Service Mikhail Dzhaparidze/TASS
Russian Federal Antimonopoly Service
© Mikhail Dzhaparidze/TASS

MOSCOW, December 19. /TASS/. The Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) of Russia postponed consideration of the case against mobile telecommunications operator VimpelCom on tariffs leveling in national roaming, press service of the regulator told TASS on Tuesday.

The FAS has not yet fixed the date of the new meeting.

VimpelCom announced on December 14 that it started complying with FAS requirements on leveling of tariffs in national roaming.

The antimonopoly regulator will review similar cases against three other operators from the ‘Big Four’ group - MTS, MegaFon and Tele2 - on December 22.

FAS initiated proceedings against each operator of the ‘Big Four’ national mobile communication operators on August 3, 2017 because of monopolistically high prices of communication services in national roaming. MTS, MegaFon and VimpelCom provide telecom services in all Russian regions, with the exception of Crimea and Sevastopol. Tele2 provides services in 65 regions of Russia.

The regulator expects that operators will change their tariffs before receiving a directive from FAS, deputy head of the watchdog Anatoly Golomolzin said earlier.

Operators are to complete all the main activities for cancellation of roaming until 2017 year-end, although a portion of work will be completed in the first half of 2018, head of FAS Igor Artemyev said earlier. Cancellation of national roaming may take slightly more time than its abandonment inside the network, the official said. The national roaming should also be canceled nevertheless in the first half of 2018, Artemyev added.